Short version: A lifetime marketing agreement gives someone a percentage of your marketing income for years, or for good. ESPN reported agents seeking 15 to 30 percent under them. One deal in court papers took 15 percent of a player's NFL pay for 25 years.
It's a contract that gives a person a share of what you earn from marketing. Endorsements, appearances, posts, sometimes anything with your name on it. What makes it "lifetime" is the length. The share keeps running long after the help is over.
Where the 15 to 30 percent comes from
In February 2026 ESPN reported on the people who help high school athletes with deals. Tim Prukop co-founded Eccker Sports Group, an NIL education company. He told ESPN he sees agents trying to sign young athletes to lifetime marketing agreements at 15 to 30 percent.
For scale, the NBA players' union caps an agent's fee at 4 percent of a playing contract, and 2 percent in a minimum-salary season. That cap is on the playing contract. It doesn't reach your marketing deals.
The work ends. The percentage doesn't. That's what makes it lifetime.
"Forever," in Texas
On October 14, 2026 the Austin American-Statesman reported on Texas families getting calls about their kids' deals. The paper wrote that "some sign contracts in perpetuity, forever granting the so-called agent a percentage of their earnings."
In perpetuity is the legal phrase. In plain words, it means forever. The same article said agent deals are illegal in Texas for athletes under 17.
A real one, in court papers: 25 years
Gervon Dexter played at Florida. In May 2022 he signed with Big League Advance Fund, which ESPN called an investment company. He got a one-time payment of $436,485. In exchange, he agreed to pay 15 percent of his pre-tax NFL earnings for 25 years.
It wasn't called a marketing agreement, but it has the same shape: money now, a share of later. The deal counted his salary, bonuses and playoff pay. He was drafted in the second round and signed a four-year, $6.72 million contract with the Chicago Bears.
In 2023 he sued in federal court in Florida, asking a judge to void the agreement. The agreement itself sends disputes to binding arbitration, ESPN reported.
Chip LaMarca, the Florida lawmaker who proposed the state's 2020 law, told ESPN the deal broke it. That law said a contract "may not extend beyond" a player's time in a college athletic program.
Florida dropped that limit in February 2023. Its law no longer bars deals that run past your college career.
The same shape, in baseball
Fernando Tatis Jr. signed with Big League Advance in 2017, at 18. It paid him $2 million for 10 percent of his future baseball earnings. He stopped paying in 2024, and the company went to arbitration.
The arbitrator ruled for the company. On May 22, 2026 a California judge in San Diego ruled that Tatis owes the award, just under $3.74 million with interest, fees and costs. His lawyer said an appeal is very likely.
Where the length hides
Most of these agreements don't say "lifetime" on page one. A March 2026 review of NIL representation agreements by the law firm McDonald Hopkins points to the places where the length sits.
- The term. Some run until the "later of" two dates, such as the end of your college eligibility or the start of a pro career.
- The tail. Fee rights that reach renewals and changes to deals, "potentially for years into the future."
- The license. Some grant a "worldwide, perpetual, and irrevocable license" to use your name, image and likeness.
- The exit. The agent can often walk away on short notice. The athlete can often leave only for "cause," which usually means a serious breach.
What the written rules say
The Revised Uniform Athlete Agents Act is a model law written for states to adopt. Where a state has adopted it, an agent contract with a student athlete must state the fee, how it's figured, and how long the contract lasts.
It must also carry a warning in capital letters. One line of it says the athlete may cancel within 14 days after signing. For a minor, a parent or guardian may cancel. The right can't be waived.
Louisiana went further in 2026. Act 895 brings agents for college and high school athletes' NIL deals under the state's agent law. Agents working before June 9, 2026 had to register by August 1, 2026.
A Louisiana agent must sign a written disclosure with you that states the fee, how it's figured, and anyone else being paid. An agent who skips it forfeits the pay. An agent found liable in a suit by the athlete forfeits any right to pay and refunds what was paid.
What Leave does with this
Upload the agreement and Leave reads it back in plain words. The percentage, what it's taken of, how long it runs, and how either side can end it.
Leave is software, not an agent, and it takes 0 percent of anything you sign. Whether a share of later is worth the money now is your call. You decide what to sign.
Questions people ask
Is a lifetime marketing agreement legal?
It depends on the state and on the contract. Florida's first NIL law barred deals that ran past a player's college career, then dropped that limit in 2023. Louisiana now makes NIL agents register and put the fee in a signed disclosure.
Can you cancel an agent contract after you sign it?
In states that adopted the Revised Uniform Athlete Agents Act, a student athlete can cancel within 14 days of signing. For a minor, a parent or guardian can. The right can't be waived.
Is this the same as "in perpetuity" in a brand deal?
No. In a brand deal, "in perpetuity" is about how long the brand may use what it made with you. A lifetime marketing agreement is about who takes a percentage of your income, and for how long.
Be your own agent. Leave.